Two significant features have been added to ClearWin+ and are available for beta testing. They are

1) A new "design" mode that allows you to modify a Window at runtime.
2) A new "multi-button" toolbar based on the Microsoft toolbar control.

These are available in three downloads via the following links.

They include:

1) New dlls together with header files and sample programs for the new features.
2) A video presenting "ClearWin+ News" together with a demonstration tutorial.
3) A new version of Plato that includes features mentioned in the video.

Please note that the native %pl has not changed since the last set of intermediate DLLs.

Sounds like after Apple, Google ,Microsoft we finally got our own long awaited Silverfrost Development Conference (right now in offline form).
Keep doing that, guys, this step is in right direction.

These Fortran new GUI visual development features are exactly what everyone always wanted in Clearwin+. Let's see how conveniently for user they were implemented and how capable they are. So far all looks very very exciting, and some things were made even better then I'd imagine them.

what's the significance of these new features beng posted in the 64bit forum topic and not the ClearWin+ forum topic ?

I also think i missed something somewhere we seem to have jumped from dlls 8 (the last one I recall seeing in the Native %pl (the 3rd one) post, to dlls 11, which posts relate to the intermediate updates 9 & 10 ?

I have no problems with Defender and generally this build is stable as opposed to previous few after #5 or #6 but got problem with F accelerator keys, the F1-F12 keys are not working. Please confirm if this is a bug or my own problems. Try to run this code where hitting either F1 or Ctrl+E should close it. Ctrl+E is doing its job but F1 does not.

Windows has so many configuration possibilities and other installed software options that it is probably something to do with my setup. I presume that design mode works without Plato, but (obviously) not the smart editing.

Unfortunately their is a small regression in the working of the design mode in version 12 of the intermediate DLLs. For testing the design mode it is better to use version 11.

Incidentally, the design mode can be extended and this further work has begun in version 12. Now (in version 12) you can modify text items and button captions at design time. Also you can add new text into the design whilst designing.

The next logical step is to allow the user to insert other components at design time. Where these require a link to variables in the Fortran code, these links could be supplied by new format codes; for example, a format code to pass the address of an integer, which could then be used at design time to insert (for example) a %rd edit control or anything else that requires an integer argument. You will get the idea.

I think that this development might be very powerful and hopefully popular. I think the development will not be too costly so it is likely to go forward anyway but, at the same time it would be interesting to get feedback on the concept.

Seasoned ClearWin+ developers should try to imagine what it would be like to use ClearWin+ and the new design mode as though they were beginners.
I guess that beginners and casual users will be the users who have most to gain.

Also the use of video tutorials seems to be an important step forward.

The Video
Excellent first attempt Paul, thanks for jumping into the modern phenomenon that are webcasts.
Firstly, your speaking speed is spot on !
Far too many 'instruction/explanation videos, both amateur (youtube) and indeed often so-called professional (those where the lecturer goes at the speed of lightening becasue they don't realise that the person on the other end of the video fundamentally starteìs off from a position of not knowing what the hell they are being told !) are far too fast - yours is excellent, for me.
Your style reminds me of the cool, calm presentation style of my lecturer when I first learned Fortran (at the Manchester Uni computing centre on Oxford road ! , sadly long gone I believe, along with the maths tower.) He was an australian who had an 'invisible assistant' he used to call ... yep you guessed it, Bruce ,,, who he thanked profusely everytime he moved to the next frame (well, flipped over the presentation sheets , but eh it was the late 70's )
Lovely to hear that manc accent too (he said - being tempted to try typing in his Wigan accent but thinking the better of it ).
Maybe in future 'episodes' we might get a glimpse of the bonce also .

Anyway, I doth dìgress ...

Drawbacks
I think at first glance the buìiggest drawback/difficulty going forward may well be that re-sizeable windows/controls may well be problematic (as is pointed out both in the video and readme.
This is not a problem for small programs and ‘the casual user’ but for more complicated ‘Dan-esque’ (for want of a better phrase ) stuff it will no doubt have the gremlins working overtime !

I also see a few areas for improvement, here are some ...

Suggestions for Improvements for future ftn95 FORcasts:

Shorter Is Better
45 minutes is way above the attention span of most of us toddlers , and I detect maybe the teacher after about 20 minutes.
So, why not:
- make individual, and shorter, videos to explain first the overall features introduced and then the details of each new capability

The concentration span of most people is already limited.
This is probably the most important. It's a common failing of webcasts in general imo.
You're way above the level of a lot of dross one comes across on youtube, but still there could be improvements made.

Readability !
- make them readable !
A lot of your excellent explanation is offset by the (my) inability to read easily the codes being referred to !
My screen is only about 30% occupied !!!! I'd sugest you expand your
I have a 15'' laptop.
Also, the blue highight colour has a lot to be desired (§for me) in helping read the highlighted text. Blue background over an originally blue text (which I think becomes a not-white colour when negated) has a lot to be desired for most - except for colour-blind people of course )
There's an excellent books around which run with titles of the style 'Death by Powerpoint' and the webcast as a concept has similar shortfalls imo.

Multi-button Toolbars
New multi-button toolbar mentions at end that the facility now contains most of the MS toolbar control capabilities.
Looking forward ... What are plans for future expansion to include possibility od generating the 'new' MS Office menu bar styles ? (differne tsize buttons, grouping , etc ....

....... contd. .........

Last edited by John-Silver on Sun Jun 18, 2017 7:23 am; edited 1 time in total